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New Castle boy awaits judge’s decision in murder case
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Jordan
By Jeanne Starmack
New Castle, PA.
The judge in the Jordan Brown murder case is expected today to declare the boy guilty or not guilty in the shotgun slaying of his father’s pregnant fiance.
Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge John Hodge heard attorneys’ closing arguments Thursday morning in the trial, which began Tuesday.
Afterward, attorneys and supporters of Jordan and of the Houk family weighed in on what they believe will happen, or at least what should happen, next.
Jordan, 14, was 11 when Kenzie Houk, 26, was shot in the back of the head as she lay in bed the morning of Feb. 20, 2009. Her 9-month-old fetus, a boy, died from lack of oxygen.
State police who investigated the crime scene identified Jordan’s 20-gauge youth-model shotgun as the murder weapon. They said they found the gun in his room.
Police believe he shot Houk, then boarded a school bus with her 7-year-old daughter, Janessa.
Janessa later told police she heard a loud bang shortly before they got on the bus.
Houk’s 4-year-old daughter, Adalynn, was alone in the house when she discovered her mother’s body. She alerted tree-trimmers who were working in the yard of the family’s rented farmhouse near Wampum, Pa.
For the next three years, Jordan was mostly housed at a juvenile detention center in Erie, Pa, while legal arguments continued over whether he should be tried as an adult.
He was ultimately tried as a juvenile, which means the trial and the case records are closed to the public and the media. An account of what happened inside the courtroom was gleaned largely from some of the six people who were allowed in — Jordan’s father, great-aunt and grandmother; and Houk’s mother, father and sister.
Attorneys spoke Thursday after the trial concluded. So did Jordan’s father, who has rarely spoken to the press.
He and defense attorney Dennis Elisco said they believe the prosecution failed to make a case. They said evidence was circumstantial, and there is no direct link between Jordan and the shooting.
“There is no evidence linking my son to this crime whatsoever,” Brown said.
“Jordan loved Kenzie. There was no animosity in our family,” he said.
He said his son, who grew 15 inches to 6 feet tall during his incarceration, is “a good kid.”
“There’s no evidence offered that he has mental issues or was a problem child and no motive whatsoever,” Brown continued. “It was more a case of, ‘if not Jordan Brown, then who?’ If we tried every case on that, then no one would be found innocent.”
“We don’t know who else, because [investigators] rushed to judgment,” added Elisco.
Brown said he “feels bad” for the Houk family.
“They have been convinced by this team of inadequate investigators that Jordan did it,” he said. “It has divided two families, and we’ll never have that back.”
Jack Houk said he was “happy with our side’s presentation.”
“I hope it goes in our favor, and the boy gets help,” he said.
“There’s not a day my wife doesn’t cry,” he said.
“The only thing that’s got me through, thanks to my parents for the way I was raised, is my faith,” said his wife, Debbie.
If Jordan is found guilty, or adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile, he will be sent to a treatment center until he is 21.
Anthony Krastek Jr., the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case, said sentencing must be within 20 days.
Krastek prosecuted the case because Lawrence County District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa had a conflict of interest.